MASSIVE MARIJUANA RAID RATTLES TINY INTERIOR TOWN

SEYMOUR ARM -- At first light, Allan Sterling, hearing a car outside his
house, thought it was his buddy coming to collect firewood. Instead, it was
six police officers, among about 150 raiding alleged marijuana grow-ops in
Seymour Arm, population 70.

Claiming he had no marijuana plants or weapons, Sterling says he was put
face down on the floor, his hands behind his back, shown a warrant for his
arrest, interrogated for three hours, taken by van to Kamloops, jailed
until 3 a.m., and told to appear in Kamloops provincial court on Dec. 8.

Drinking beer Wednesday near Shuswap Lake, Sterling and other residents
accused police of arresting and releasing 16 innocent locals who didn't
resist, dividing a community with few jobs, and destroying the town's
reputation as a peaceful tourist haven for houseboats and hunters.

"It's going to cause major separation between local people," said Sterling,
48, who rents out boating equipment.

But police say they've made Seymour Arm safe for locals, who they say
complained of harassment.

In its first major operation, a combined forces team seized 50 weapons and
20,000 marijuana plants and growing equipment, which they were hauling out
of town in a least seven rental trucks, said RCMP Supt. Marianne Ryan.
About 30 officers from the Lower Mainland traveled on a logging road 160
kilometres northeast of Kamloops to join the raid, which Ryan said was a
message to all remote areas of B.C. that "no one is immune to our combined
law enforcement."

"The crime is moving out. It is getting pushed out (of the Lower
Mainland)," she said. "But we haven't stopped at the lower mainland
boundaries."

She said the area's isolation, with homes in the bush generating their own
power, was "all done to reduce suspicion of what is ongoing in the area."

"This community has been infiltrated by organized crime. They've taken
advantage of the geography and remoteness of the area. They may think
they're flying under the radar. All we have to do is lower the radar."

Though the investigation has found no links to biker gangs, she said the
growers, including one secluded home on Ireland Road where police seized
5,000 plants and four weapons, would "have to be connected," with "a
well-established distribution network."

However several locals spun a different story. They say the community of 70
is indeed "organized -- they volunteer to build each other's log houses and
A-frames and a new dock.

They say everybody has a gun to protect against cougars and bears on their
doorstep.

"If you're in the wilderness, a firearm is a tool, not a weapon," says John
Rivette, 73, a retired geologist who first came to Seymour Arm in 1956.
"Most people have them and register them."

Police would not provide details of complaints they claimed they received
from locals.

Alfie Daniels, 78, who was born in Seymour Arm, said the growers helped the
local economy by spending money and hiring builders, carpenters,
electricians and plumbers. "They gave us more business, they were here
buying stuff, buying food. I know if they were shut down we'd lose money
here at the store."